‘Sunday Night Football’ Ratings Steady As Steelers Pull Off Close Win Over Packers

There was no casual post-Thanksgiving recovery on primetime last night with the very real drama of Sunday Night Football, the anticipation of the Miss Universe competition and a new direction announced for one of The Walking Dead’s core cast members.

As much as Lennie James moving over to spinoff Fear The Walking Dead may have juiced up the zombie apocalypse, it was another all-out-war performance by Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown that helped fuel the Pennsylvania team’s 31-28 win over the Green Bay Packers.

With the Steelers now 9-2 for the current NFL season and the AFC’s top seed, last night’s Week 12 SNF scored a 12.2/20 in metered market ratings.

That’s down 10% from last week’s very strong results of the Philadelphia Eagles vs. Dallas Cowboys match-up. That 37-9 Eagles win nailed the best early ratings of any NFL game this controversial and challenging season since Week 1. Up against a steady American Music Awards, the 8:30 – 11:15 PM ET Week 11 SNF went on to snag a 7.0/23 rating among adults 18-49 and 21.06 million viewers.

Here’s one last stat from last night’s SNF, the game peaked with 12.9/24 MM rating right at the very end in the 11-11:30 PM ET slot.

Taking a year-to-year perspective, last night’s Steelers’ close win bested by 3% the Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos game of November 27, 2016. That SNF overtime win by the Chiefs, which faced NFL overruns on CBS, eventually saw a 6.2/21 rating in the key demo and a total audience of 18.44 million.

However, last year’s post-Thanksgiving did not face a Miss Universe as last night’s SNF did. In fact, with the once Donald Trump-owned competition moving around the schedule again, the last Miss Universe was on January 29 this year and did not have any NFL rivals. Won by Miss France, that Miss Universe earned a night-topping 1.5/5 rating and 5.22 million viewers.

The last time Miss Universe faced off against SNF was back on December 20, 2015 when host Steve Harvey got the winner wrong initially and the NBC and NFL broadcast hit a season low. We already know at least one of those variables is out of the picture as Miss South Africa Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters won her crown with little kerfuffle last night.

In fast affiliates, Fox’s 7 – 10 PM Miss Universe was crowned with an 1.1/4 rating among the 18-49s and 4.41 million viewers. That’s a tumble of 27% in the key demo rom the 65th version of the competition that the net had on earlier this year. In metered markets, last night’s 66thMiss Universe competition had a 3.2 rating, which was a dip of 9% from the January 29 ceremony.

While sure to change later, SNF snared a 5.1/17 rating among the demo and 16.36 million viewers. Which, even in flux, translates into a win for NBC with a 4.2/14 rating overall and an audience of 13.72 million. That’s a decline of 17% from last week’s early numbers, which went up to a near season high.

With a delay of over 45 minutes due to NFL overruns, CBS’ numbers are all over the map. As it stands right now, and sure to change, a 7:46 M ET starting 60 Minutes got a 1.5/5, an 8:46 PM ET beginning Wisdom of the Crowd got a 0.9/3, and NCIS: Los Angles drew a 0.8/3. Starting at 10:46 PM ET, Madam Secretary’s numbers are unavailable currently.

On ABC, a new America’s Funniest Home Videos (1.2/4) at 8 PM was up 20% in the key demo from its last original of two weeks ago. All of which is a no joke season high for the veteran found footage series. Lead out Shark Tank (1.0/3) was also up, 11% in the reality show’s case, from its last new show.